  I'm more mindful this year of the meaning of this holiday than I have been in years past. When I realize that I'm old enough to be the mother of some of the young men and women losing their lives on the other side of the world, Memorial Day hits home. And I'm becoming more and more mindful of the freedoms our forefathers established and fought for.
I've been complacent about them, and now I want to work to ensure we keep these freedoms, when the current political climate seems to encourage the erosion of our rights. My ex-husband fancies himself a miltary man from a military family, although no one in this immediate family ever wore a uniform. He went to a military boarding school and flirted with going to West Point, but his whole adult life has been civilian. He gets choked up when he talks about how he wishes he were in the military in these times, but I think that's all horsesh*t. But I do think he is lying to himself about this as well. My ex took our son to the Memorial Day parade yesterday. I hope my son has some sense of the meaning of the holiday, and not just an excuse for barbecues and excessive drinking and white sales.
Of course he's only six, but he seems wiser than his years. I feel very selfish in knowing that it would be hard for me to make the sacrifices our service men and women are making, and to know that I don't want my son to be one of them. His father would be proud to see him in uniform, but I would be terrified. 
